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Posts by Jane J

Waiting for the spark

Cover of The Other Miss Bridgerton
A review of The Other Miss Bridgerton by Julia Quinn

I used to be a big Julia Quinn fan, gobbled up her Bridgerton books as quickly as they came out. But then, hmmm, I'm not sure what happened. Somehow they weren't feeling as fresh for me perhaps? Seemed like the last few books I read by the author were just okay and so I fell away. But I was curious, with the second season of the Netflix series (which I love) now available, whether I could recapture that sparky feeling those early books provided if I dropped back in. The answer? A resounding yes.

Posted by Jane J on Apr 28, 2022

Do we ever really know?

Cover of More Than You'll Ever Know
A review of More Than You'll Ever Know by Katie Gutierrez

Freelance writer Cassie Bowman's specialty is true crime and she is used to murder cases involving husbands who kill their wives, or even wives who killed their husbands. Having done this kind of investigative writing for a few years, it takes a bit to surprise her. When she comes across a news article about a woman who was not only a bigamist but a widow after one of the husbands killed the other in 1985. Cassie knows if she can get Delores "Lore" Rivera to agree to talk with her for an article, it could make her career.

Posted by Jane J on Apr 14, 2022

Stylish noir

Cover of Tangerine
A review of Tangerine by Christine Mangan

If you need a break from the damp, chill, gray days of early Wisconsin spring (and at this point, who doesn't?), here's your chance to escape to hot, sunny 1950s Tangier in Christine Mangan's Tangerine.

Posted by Jane J on Apr 7, 2022

Choices were made

Cover of Velocity Weapon
A review of Velocity Weapon by Megan O'Keefe

Sergeant Sanda Greeve wakes alone in the medical bay of a strange ship. Worse, it's an enemy ship and the only other inhabitant is the sentient artificial intelligence who runs the ship, The Light of Berossus, aka Bero. And that's not the worst news she's about to hear. Bero shows her that Ada Prime (Sanda's home planet) and Icarion (their enemy) have both vanished from the galaxy, blown up 230 years ago during the war that left Sanda wounded. Sanda had been in stassis in a life pod until Bero, who has been alone for years, found her.

Posted by Jane J on Mar 22, 2022

An impossible crime?

Cover of Under Lock & Skeleton Key
A review of Under Lock & Skeleton Key by Gigi Pandian

Tempest Raj has returned to her childhood home after a stunt in her Las Vegas magic show went dangerously (almost fatally) awry. Not only has she lost her successful show, but she's still facing legal issues related to the accident, an accident she knows is not her fault. Now home she has to figure out her next steps and while she's lying low licking her wounds, her dad asks her to take a job with his Secret Staircase Construction company. Her first act to help her dad is to examine a house that's being renovated.

Posted by Jane J on Mar 14, 2022

People (and creatures) we meet along the way

Cover of Nettle & Bone
A review of Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

Lately in my speculative fiction reading (primarily science fiction and fantasy novels) I've been drawn to quiet, sometimes cranky, honorable characters who aren't super flashy, but persist in their quests because it's the right thing to do. Nettle & Bone satisfied that reading niche perfectly. Not only does this describe the heroine protagonist, but it does her male counterpart as well. I loved it.

"This isn't a fairytale where the princess marries a prince. It's the one where she kills him."

Posted by Jane J on Feb 23, 2022

Does anyone really know what time it is?

Cover of The Verifiers
A review of The Verifiers by Jane Pek

Claudia Lin is living a double life. Her mother and siblings think she's still working a low-level corporate job (found for her by her brother). In reality she's quit that job and taken an entry level investigative position with Veracity; a firm that investigates dating app misbehavior (not showing up for dates, cheating, lying, ghosting, etc). The work in her new job is extremely confidential, but that's not a problem for Claudia who is used to keeping secrets.

Posted by Jane J on Jan 19, 2022

Return to form

Cover of Kingscastle
A review of Kingscastle by Sophia Holloway

A couple of things drew me to this book immediately. One, the cover, yep, I'm shallow like that. And two, the description of the hero/heroine. He's a retired naval captain and she's the put-upon companion to a difficult woman. My favorite Jane Austen novel is Persuasion so this description hit me in my Austen sweet spot. Did it live up to my hopes based on those two enticements? Mostly, though, in ways unexpected.

Posted by Jane J on Jan 6, 2022

Doing what it takes

Cover of The Violin Conspiracy
A review of The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb

This is a heist story. It's also an examination of institutional racism in the rarefied world of classical music and of hope and perseverance in a world that doesn't always reward such. Brendan Slocumb, a former principal violinist and concertmaster, manages all of this in a delicate balance of a story that held my attention from first to last pages.

Posted by Jane J on Jan 4, 2022

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